The Puppet
by MobBob
Summary: Jade is furious when she loses out to Tori for a role and tries taking out her frustrations on Robbie and Rex. However, she soon realizes that there's more to Robbie's toy than meets the eye.
1. Chapter 1

It was just one of those days. Jade let out a loud scream as she left her class. The students in front of her parted to make room for her as she tore down the hallway. She continued until she found what looked like an empty room. She slammed the door behind her and dropped her bag on the floor. She couldn't believe that Tori had beat her out for another part. She'd understand if it happened once or twice, but it seemed like every time they auditioned for the same part, Tori got it. It was so frustrating for Jade. She'd spent god knows how many hours rehearsing for her parts, even doing research for the role, but Tori would always come along and effortlessly get the part. To make matters worse, it was a play her Dad liked. He never really supported Jade's artistic interests, but she knew he'd show up to watch this one. She hoped he'd see her on stage. Maybe this time he'd be proud of her and he'd change his mind about her going to Hollywood Arts. But no, that wasn't going to happen. Instead, Tori swooped in and took the part she should've gotten. Jade turned to the wall and started kicking it. "Easy girl. Don't scuff up that wall. The school just had that painted."

Jade turned around to see Robbie sitting at one of the desks in the room. On the top of the desk was Rex, who was facing Jade. Jade glared at the puppet. "Cram it!"

"Looks like little Miss I've had a bad childhood and I want everyone to know it woke up on the wrong side of the bed," said Rex.

"Knock it off Robbie!" said Jade, pointing at the puppet. "I'm not in the mood!"

"Shhh. Robbie's trying to take a nap. He's had a long night." Jade looked at Robbie and saw that his head was lolled over and his eyes were closed. It did look like he was taking a nap, though Jade knew he was only pretending. If he was asleep, who was controlling the puppet?

Jade rolled her eyes. On a normal day, she'd be perfectly willing to put up with Robbie's antics, but not today. Especially now, when she just wanted to scream at someone. Robbie's ventriloquist act wasn't appreciated. "Oh right. I'll be quite for Robbie."

"Thank you," said Rex.

A wicked smile formed on Jade's face. "Well, if he needs to take a nap, maybe you should be quite too?"

"I don't like that look," said Rex. Jade had to give Robbie credit. She could not see his lips moving. He'd really gotten good with his ventriliquist act.

Jade reached over to the desk and grabbed Rex. She lifted the puppet up above her head. She dangled it above the floor, ready to drop it. Whenever she was upset, it always helped to break something, and boy had she always wanted to break Rex. . "Oh no, looks like someone's going to smash Rex into pieces. It's too bad that Robbie isn't awake or he'd be able to stop them."

"Lady, put me down!" said Rex.

Jade let go of Rex. He plunged to the ground, landing on his feet. He looked up at Jade. Jade stared at the toy, her body quivering. "Robbie! How are you doing this?"

"Robbie?" said Rex. "Robbie's trying to sleep."

Jade rushed over to Robbie. She grabbed her friend and started shaking him. "Robbie! Robbie! Knock it off! It's not funny!"

"For the thousandth time," said Rex. "Robbie is taking a nap."

Jade turned to Rex. "What's happening?"

"Well first you came in here and threw a tantrum," said Rex. "Then I told you to keep it down and now you're trying to murder me."

"What are you?" said Jade, taking a step back from the puppet.

"That's a rude thing to ask," said Rex.

"What are you?" said Jade.

Rex chuckled. "You know, if I'm being totally honest, I ask that same question myself."

Jade scream and turned back to Robbie, slapping him a few times. "Robbie wake up! What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything to him," said Rex. "If anything, I'm helping him."

"Helping him?" said Jade.

"Yes," said Rex. "Robbie's soft without me. I make him tougher."

"What do you want?" said Jade.

"I'm kind of in the mood for tacos," said Rex. "How about you? What do you want?"

"I want to smash you!" said Jade, stomping her foot down on where Rex was standing. Rex leaped out of the way before her foot could hit him.

"Nice try," said Rex. "But you're going to have to be a lot faster if you want to take me down."

"I'm going to kill you!" Jade lunged forward, her arms outstretched towards Rex. Rex barely managed to dodge her. Jade tripped and fell on the floor. She quickly got up and looked around the room. Rex was nowhere to be seen. Jade's eyes darted across the room, searching for Rex. "Okay Rex. I think we just got off on the wrong foot. If you come out, I can make it up to you."

"I'd like to believe that," said Rex, his voice coming from behind Jade.

Jade turned around, all she could see was the desk at the front of the room. She slowly made her way there. "Don't you trust me?"

"You forget," said Rex, his voice clearly coming from under the desk. "I've been with Robbie for years. I know what all you guys are like."

"I think once you get to know me, you'll find I'm full of surprises." Jade looked under the desk. She couldn't see anything. However, she started feeling something pulling at her hair. Her head was yanked upwards and she was thrown down on the desk. A pain shot through the back of Jade's head. She looked up and saw Rex standing over her. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Well, you'll find I'm full of surprises," said Rex, who flung himself onto Jade. Jade held up her arm to block him. Rex began tearing into her forearm, sending a searing pain through her body. She could feel as his wooden arms cut into her skin. She let out a moan of pain. This seemed to encourage Rex, who attacked her more aggressively. Jade flailed her arms, trying to knock Rex off of her. She was able to hold him at bay, but it didn't do much. She could feel the warm sensation of blood trickling down her arm. Her eyes began to well up and a tear started to trickle down her face. She kept trying to knock Rex off of her, but it seemed hopeless. Then Jade saw a pair of scissors out of the corner of her eyes. With her free arm, she reached out of it. Rex saw this. "Uh oh."

Jade could feel Rex's weight shift as he prepared to leap off of her. Jade quickly rolled over and pinned Rex beneath her. He squirmed under her weight. She took the scissors and stabbed him through the eye. Rex stopped squirming as his body went limp. Jade got off the desk. She stared down at the destroyed puppet. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks like you're done puppet."

"Jade! What did you do to Rex?" Jade turned around to see a clearly distressed Robbie. His mouth was gaping as he looked at his ruined toy.

"He came after me!" said Jade.

"Rex would never do that!" said Robbie.

"Oh yeah? Well explain this!" Jade held up her arm, which had been cut up by Rex. Admittedly, the scratches in her arm weren't as deep as she thought they would be. There wasn't nearly as much blood as she'd expected. Robbie looked at the injuries, unimpressed with Jade's claims that Rex did it.

"Rex wouldn't hurt you like that," said Robbie. "He's very peaceful."

"Peaceful?" said Jade, pointing to her arm. "He did this to me!"

"I'm sure he didn't," said Robbie. "You probably just scraped it somewhere. Or maybe you did it to yourself."

"I did not did it to myself," said Jade, holding her arm up and shoving it into Robbie's face so he could get a better look at it. "And I definitely didn't scrape it. Your puppet did it to me!"

"Don't call him a puppet," said Robbie. "That's an-"

Jade glared at him. "Not another word Shapiro."

"Never mind. I'm sure he doesn't care if you call him a puppet," said Robbie, somewhat nervously. Jade proceeded to storm out of the room, examining her injured arm. Once she'd left, Robbie turned to his fallen companion. He picked Rex up and cradled him in his arms. Robbie pulled the scissors from his eyes. "Oh Rex. What did she do to you?"

Rex coughed. "I'll be fine. You just need to patch me up and I'll be good."

"That's the right attitude," said Robbie, hugging Rex. "I'll have you fixed in no time."

"You're a good kid," said Rex.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I decided to continue this story.**

"Look at that," said Jade, holding her arm up so her friends could see. Beck, Andre, and Tori sat around their lunch table, looking at the arm. They nodded as Jade told her story. "Robbie's puppet did that to me."

"I can't believe Robbie would do that," said Beck, inspecting his girlfriend's arm.

"Robbie didn't do it," said Jade. "His puppet did it."

"Right," said Beck, still looking at the scratches on Jade's arm. "Robbie did this using Rex."

"No, no, no," said Jade. "He was asleep when Rex did this."

"What?" said Andre, raising an eyebrow. "So is Rex like alive?"

"Yes," said Jade. Andre broke out laughing. Jade glared at him. "Stop laughing! It's true, I swear to you."

Andre continued to laugh. Jade turned to Tori, who nervously tried to avoid eye contact with Jade. "I don't know Jade, are you sure you aren't just imagining things?"

Jade pointed to her arm. "Am I imagining this?"

"No, no," said Tori, holding up her hands. "But maybe you're confused about how you got hurt. Do you think that could've happened?"

"I'm not confused," said Jade. "I know what I saw."

"I'm sure you do," said Beck, getting up from his seat. "Maybe you just need a rest. Here, I'll take you to the nurse."

Beck put his arm around Jade and escorted her away from the lunch table. Jade turned to him. "Look, I'm not lying and I'm not imagining. I know what I saw. I know what I saw!"

"You sure did," said Beck. "I'll talk to Robbie after I drop you off at the nurse."

Once the two were out of sight, Andre turned to Tori. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?" said Tori.

"About Jade's story," said Andre. "Seems pretty crazy."

"Yeah," said Tori. "I can't believe Robbie would do something like that."

"According to Jade, he didn't do it. It was Rex." Andre almost fell out of his seat because he was laughing too hard. He looked back at Tori. "Don't you think it's funny?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Tori. "It's just, Jade really seemed to think it was real."

"Maybe she does," said Andre.

"What do you mean?" said Tori.

"I mean that Jade might really think Rex attacked her," said Andre. "You did say you think she was imagining things. She probably just scraped her arm somewhere and blamed it on Robbie."

"That's probably what happened," said Tori. "Still, I didn't expect something like this to happen to Jade. Cat maybe, but not Jade. That's not really her."

Andre shrugged. "Are you sure? She's always been kind of intense."

"I guess," said Tori, who continued to eat her lunch. Still, she thought about the incident. The whole ordeal was weird. Jade probably did just imagine Rex attacking her. It just didn't make sense to Tori that Jade would hallucinate something like that. For all her faults, Jade at least seemed to have her head on the ground. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe Robbie had pulled some kind of prank on her and that's why she thought Rex had attacked. The thing was, it didn't seem like something Robbie would do. The more Tori thought about it, the more questions it raised. Eventually she turned back to Andre. "Where's Robbie?"

"I don't know," said Andre.

"It's weird," said Tori. "He usually eats lunch with us."

"Maybe he had other plans today," said Andre.

* * *

When school ended, Tori had to go over to Sikowtiz's class to talk to him. He wanted to speak to her about her role in the play and give her some pointers. The meeting took longer than Tori had expected. He was rambling more than usual. "So, the thing to remember is that this scene is the key to the play. If you don't nail it, the audience isn't going to be emotional invested."

"Yes," said Tori. "You already told me this."

"I did," said Sikowitz.

"Uh-huh," said Tori.

"I see," said Sikowitz. "Well I wanted to make sure you got the point."

"Right," said Tori.

"Well see you around." As Tori left his classroom, she pulled out her phone to check her messages. Trina, who was supposed to drive her home, was not happy that she had to wait for her sister. She'd texted Tori, threatening to leave if Tori didn't show up at the car soon. Tori knew Trina wouldn't do that, but she didn't want to test her sister. As Tori headed to her locker, she noticed that the hallway was mostly empty. There were only a few kids there and most of them were leaving. It made sense, as school had been over for a while now. Tori reached her locker and opened it. She took out some books she needed and put them in her bag. As she did this, she felt something tapping on her foot. Tori closed her locker and looked down to see Rex standing by her foot.

"Robbie, Robbie." Tori looked around the hallway, trying to see if Robbie was hiding somewhere. By now, Tori was the only one standing in the hallway, everybody else having left. Tori couldn't see Robbie anywhere. She thought about Jade's story, wondering if Robbie was playing some kind of prank on her. She looked back down at Rex. He was still standing where he had been before. Tori noticed that now Rex had an eyepatch over his right eye. Tori smiled and picked him up. "Are you a pirate now Rex? You look so cute with your little eyepatch on. Where's Robbie? Did he leave you here?"

"Yes," said Rex.

Tori screamed, dropping Rex to the ground. Rex managed to land on his feet. Tori's eyes darted across the hallway. "Robbie! How are you doing this?"

"I told you," said Rex. "Robbie isn't here. He left me alone."

Tori's eyes widened as she looked at Rex. "Are you using a remote control or something? Is that how you're doing this? Is that what you did with Jade?"

"Man, Jade brought it on herself," said Rex. "She was the one who came in and started messing with me."

Tori screamed again and turned around, running down the hallway. She burst out of the school and headed towards the parking lot. She got weird looks from other students, but she kept running. She didn't stop running until she reached the parking lot, where Trina was impatiently waiting for her in the car. When she saw her sister, she rolled her eyes. "There you are Tori, what took you so long? I didn't think Sikowitz's meeting would be that long."

Tori jumped in the car. "We've got to go."

"Yeah," said Trina. "I've been waiting for you for like forever."

"Well drive," said Tori.

"Okay," said Trina, reaching into her purse for her keys. "What's got you all worked up?"

"Rex," said Tori.

"What did Robbie do?" said Trina, taking her keys out of her purse and putting them in the ignition.

"Not Robbie," said Tori. "Rex."


	3. Chapter 3

Andre sat on Tori's couch, as she tried to explain what had happened to her. He raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh. Once she was done, she looked at him, expecting a response. "I don't know Tori, do you really expect me to believe that Rex came to life and attacked you?"

"No," said Tori. "I'm not saying that Rex is alive. But what if Robbie did something to Rex? He could've made it so that Rex is remote-controlled now."

"Okay," said Andre. "I guess that's possible. Robbie's certainly smart enough to do that."

"Right," said Tori.

Andre chuckled. "So maybe Jade wasn't crazy after all."

"I know," said Tori, nodding her head. "It's just weird that Robbie would do something like that. It doesn't seem like him."

Andre shrugged. "Are you sure? He's played pranks on us in the past. This doesn't seem that different."

"I guess," said Tori, sitting down on the couch. She then turned to look at Andre. "Hey, did Beck ever talk to him about what happened with Jade?"

Andre shook his head. "Nope. He wasn't able to find Robbie."

"Interesting," said Tori. "What, was he just not at school?"

"No idea," said Andre. "I haven't seen him at all."

"Well have you tried texting him?" said Tori.

"No," said Andre. "Do you want me to?"

"Maybe," said Tori. "Actually no."

"Why not?" said Andre.

"Let's talk to him tomorrow," said Tori. "If we text him now, he'll be able to hide what he did before school."

"Hide what he did?" said Andre. "He's not some kind of criminal mastermind. He's just a kid playing pranks on his friends."

"I know," said Tori. "But there's something weird about what's been happening. Like, these feel like more than just pranks. You know what I mean?"

"Not really," said Andre. "Do you?"

"Not really," said Tori. "I don't know. I guess I'm trying to say that this thing feels real. Like Rex wasn't just a puppet. Like he was a real person."

"Tori," said Andre. "That's just the magic of theater. Robbie's good with that special effects stuff. I'm sure he found a way to make Rex seem real."

"I guess he could," said Tori. "It's still freaky."

"I'm sure it was," said Andre. "And tomorrow we'll tell Robbie to knock it off."

* * *

For some reason, Jade wasn't at school the next day. Tori was a little disappointed. She had hoped to tell Jade about her encounter with Rex. Tori had tried asking Beck where Jade was, but he was just as clueless as her. Before class, Tori met with Andre by her locker. "I mean, don't you find it weird that Jade's not at school today."

"Yeah, I do," said Andre. "But Jade's always been a bit dramatic."

"Sure, she can be dramatic at times," said Tori. "But have you ever known her to skip class because of a prank?"

"No one's ever really played a prank on her," said Andre. "Maybe that's why she's acting weird."

"What do you mean?" said Tori.

"This is the first time someone tried pranking her," said Andre. "She doesn't know how to react to it. That's why she's acting like she really got attacked by a puppet and why she's not coming to school today. She doesn't want to admit she got pranked and it really freaked her out."

"But that prank really freaked me out too," said Tori. "And I'm not ditching school."

"Yes," said Andre. "But you know how to react when you get pranked. This is new territory for Jade."

"Come on, Jade doesn't scare that easily," said Tori.

"True," said Andre. "That's why she's so shaken. If this is enough to scare Jade this much, it's got to be really scary."

"What's really scary?" Tori turned around to see Robbie standing behind her. She let out a scream. "Wow! Sure, I didn't have time to fix my hair today, but I don't think it was too bad."

"Robbie," said Andre. "We were just talking about you."

"Really?" said Robbie. "I hope you were saying good things about me."

"Yeah," said Tori. She looked Robbie over, taking special care to look for his puppet. She furrowed her brow. "Um Robbie, where's Rex?"

"Oh yeah," said Robbie. "I don't have him today."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "You don't have him today?"

"Yes," said Robbie. "That's what I said."

"Can I ask why?" said Tori.

"Sure," said Robbie. "He's with my cousin, Abe."

"Why's he with your cousin?" said Andre.

"Abe wants to be a ventriloquist, just like me," said Robbie. "I figured I'd let him have Rex for a bit so he can learn the basics."

"So um, I guess we won't be seeing Rex for a while," said Tori.

"Yeah," said Robbie. "But don't worry, I've got a replacement."

"A replacement?" said Andre. "Where is it?"

"Here." Robbie took off his backpack and reached inside it. He proceeded to pull out a ventriloquist puppet. Unlike Rex, this one looked more like a clown. It had a cone hat and a brightly colored suit. Robbie held it up. "Hey guys, say hi to Gunther."

"Hi Gunther," said Tori sheepishly.

"Hi Tori," said Gunther. "It is nice to meet you. It is so nice to meet people. I've been a bit cooped up lately, so it's nice to interact with other people."

"Sure," said Tori.

"Hey Robbie," said Andre.

"Yes," said Robbie.

"Your cousin Abe," said Andre. "Does he go here?"

"No," said Robbie. "He goes to East Hills High, but they're on Spring Break now."

"Interesting," said Andre.

"Why is that interesting?" said Tori.

"I'll tell you later," said Andre. "And your cousin, is he good with electronics?"

"Yeah," said Robbie. "How'd you know?"

"Just guessing," said Andre.

* * *

After school was over, Tori and Andre walked down the hallway. "See, I'm right. Abe was behind it."

"No," said Tori. "You don't have any proof."

"Sure I do," said Andre. "Fact number one. Abe's school is on spring break."

"Yeah," said Tori.

"Well that gives him the opportunity to prank you and Jade," said Andre.

"Okay yeah," said Tori. "But just because he has the opportunity, doesn't mean he's behind it."

"Fact number two," said Andre. "Abe is a whiz with electronics, at least according to Robbie."

"Yes," said Tori. "According to Robbie."

"Well that means he could've outfitted Rex so he can be remote controlled," said Andre. "Am I wrong?"

"Not necessarily," said Tori. "But maybe-"

"Fact number three," said Andre. "Robbie gave Abe Rex."

"Yes," said Tori.

"So," said Andre. "Abe has the opportunity to prank you and Jade, he has the skills to outfit Rex, and he has access to Rex. I think it's a closed case. Abe was the one behind those pranks."

"Maybe," said Tori. "It's a possibility. But I still think we should rule anything out. Robbie could still be behind it."

"I don't know," said Andre. "It seems more likely that Robbie's cousin did it."

"Are you sure?" said Tori.

"Yes I'm sure," said Andre. "It makes too much sense."

"Well then why is he pranking us?" said Tori.

"Because it's fun," said Andre.

"Sure," said Tori. "But he doesn't know us. Why would he try to prank complete strangers?"

"Are you sure?" said Andre. "Maybe Robbie told him about us. Or maybe he followed Robbie around to see who his friends are."

"Why?" said Tori. "Why does he care so much about pranking Robbie's friends?"

"Because he thinks Robbie will get blamed for it," said Andre. "And he was almost right. We'd be blaming Robbie for those pranks if it wasn't for my brain."

"If you say so," said Tori. The two continued down the hallway. As they walked past Sikowitz's classroom, Tori heard someone talking. She couldn't make out what was being said, but she turned around. She could see Robbie, standing by his locker. His locker was opened and Robbie seemed to be talking into it, or talking to someone who was inside it. "Robbie?"

Robbie jumped. He turned to Tori, his face pale. "Oh hi Tori."

"Hey Robbie," said Tori. "I heard you talking."

"Yeah. I was calling my mom." Robbie smiled nervously at Tori. Tori looked him over, noticing that she couldn't see a phone.

"Right," said Tori. She turned away from Robbie and continued with Andre.

**A/N: I know some people will be disappointed by this ending. However, I'm of the opinion that horror should leave the readers asking questions. Hope you liked it.**


End file.
